MDAs submit handing-over notes - towards smooth transfer of government
More than 34 heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) have submitted draft handing-over notes to the office of the Administrator-General of the Presidential Estates Unit (PEU).
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This is in preparation for a transparent and accountable transfer of power and assets of the state to the incoming government, come January 2017.
“So far, we have more than 34 handing-over drafts that will be handed to the President soon. By October 25, 2016, we expect to send the handing-over notes to the presidency,” the Administrator General, Mr David Yaro, announced at a press conference in Accra yesterday.
He said the unit had already reviewed the template for handing-over notes required of the incumbent government for a smooth transition.
He explained that after a review of the 2012 handing-over notes, the unit had held meetings with heads of MDAs, who were then directed to draft the notes.
Thereafter, there were revisions of the notes with the heads and the Public Services Commission (PSC).
Subsequently, a quality assurance team had been put together and a redesigned template on the information to be captured in the handing over notes firmed up.
Mr Yaro explained, however, that although the Presidential (Transitional) Act 2012 tasked the Executive with the duty of writing the notes, the PEU was facilitating the effort.
Budgetary constraints
He said budgetary constraints were likely to impede the smooth and efficient transition of power if benevolent organisations and individuals and other agencies did not provide the unit, established in 2012, with the resources and logistics required for its work.
Regardless of the challenges, however, Mr Yaro was optimistic that the unit would live up to expectation and independently superintend over a smooth transition after the December 7 general election.
Data on assets
He reported that the unit had also managed, within the limits of resources, to collect about 18,000 sets of data on vehicles in municipal, metropolitan and district assemblies (MMDAs) and independent constitutional bodies.
He said heads of MMDAs had been given until the end of the month to update the PEU on the status of the vehicles, as the data collection was done about two years ago.
Liaisons
With regard to the Lands Commission, the Public Procurement Agency (PPA) and the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD), the PEU was working to take stock of government assets and lands that were not within the control of the Lands Commission, Mr Yaro said.
He added that a draft organisational manual of the unit had been prepared and was awaiting validation to enable the recruitment of professionals in estate management, policy and research and information management and ensure a fully-fledged PEU.
Challenges
Mr Yaro tasked the media to present a case for the unit for benevolent organisations to support it, as its work was of paramount importance.
He expressed the gratitude of the unit to the programmes director and staff of a non-governmental organisation, Deliver Programme, which is funded by the DFID.
An appeal to the programme, he said, resulted in an initial donation of a desk-top computer, five laptops, a server, two printers and a scanner when the unit had no equipment to work with.
Deliver also sponsored all the workshops on fine-tuning handing-over notes and Mr Yaro asked other organisations to follow its example and help the PEU.
Legislative Instrument
He also mentioned the absence of a legislative instrument (LI) on the act as constraining the work of the unit.
For instance, he said, there were no clear lines among the functions of the PEU, the Lands Commission and the PPA.
He also expressed dissatisfaction with the Presidential Transition Act 2012 that enabled the administrator-general to give administrative and technical advice but left him out of the Transitional Team provided for in the act.
Mr Yaro said the Attorney General was working on an L.I. for Act 845 and expressed the hope that the grey areas would be catered for under the L.I.
Context
The Office of the Administrator General of the PEU is established under the Presidential (Transition) Act, 2012 (Act 845).
The act is a product of the Institute of Economic Affairs’ (IEA’s) Ghana Political Parties Programme which, as far back as 2007, began dialoguing and researching for smoother transitions from one administration to another, which resulted in a bill.
The office is tasked, among several other functions under Act 845, to ensure accountability and transparency in the stock -taking and transfer of all government property from one administration to another.